Power-operated chucks are widely used; however, conventionally designed power-operated chucks have a short jaw stroke and a narrow range of gripping diameter.
In order to extend the gripping range of power-operated chucks, work gripping jaws must either be replaced or readjusted. The readjustment process requires manually relocating and remounting of the jaws or the use of secondary tools to drive an adjustable jaw mechanism.
Frequent replacement or readjustment of chuck jaws, as is required in short-run production shops, will greatly reduce the machine utilization and its efficiency. It is evident that an adjustable chuck requiring the use of no secondary tools and at the same time having means for determining gripping diameter without the use of external gauges would be very desirable.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a spindle powered adjustable chuck.
It is also an object of the invention to provide an adjustable chuck requiring no secondary tools such as wrenches or external power heads.
It is further an object of the invention to provide a chuck adjustor which has means for determining gripping diameters without the use of external gauges or other measuring devices.
These and other objects of the invention will appear to those skilled in the art from the following, considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The accompanying drawings show the invention embodied in a three jaw chuck. It is understood that the invention applies equally to chucks having one, two or four jaws and the drawings are not to be construed as defining or limiting the scope of the invention.